Seven candidates, including one incumbent, are vying to fill three spaces on the five-member Malibu City Council.
By Homaira Shifa / Special to The Malibu Times
Seven candidates are running to fill three positions on Malibu City Council, with this year’s municipal election scheduled for April 10. There will be at least two new faces on the council this year, as current Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich is term-limited and Councilmember Jefferson Wagner opted not to run again. In ballot order (the result of a random draw), the candidates are: Hamish Patterson, Skylar Peak, Hans Laetz, Andy Lyon, Joan House, K. “Missy” Zeitsoff and John Sibert.
Hamish Patterson works as a carpenter in Malibu and has a background in environmental chemistry. He graduated from Northern Arizona University and moved to Oregon, where he worked with matters involving environmental policy issues in the national forest. He also says he was involved in city politics regarding water quality issues. He returned to Malibu in 2003.
“Malibu became a city to protect itself from urban encroachment, keep the environment healthy and intact, and nurture a cohesive and friendly community spirit,” Patterson said. “But what happened? Sewers, shopping plazas, parking lots, traffic, bulldozers in environmentally sensitive areas, deadly roads, and community fragmentation.”
“How are we worse off than when we started?” Patterson asked. “Hidden agendas, closed-door meetings, outside influences, and a community disillusioned at a city government with a deaf ear to its needs. PCH is deadlier than ever, only the super-rich can build dream homes, community services lack, chain stores threaten to make Malibu a giant shopping mall from Trancas to Big Rock. It is time for new faces, new ideas and new energy.”
Skylar Peak, 27, is the youngest of the candidates and a third-generation resident of Malibu. A graduate of Malibu schools from St. Aiden’s to Juan Cabrillo, Malibu High School and Pepperdine University, Peak says he understands the opportunities and challenges facing kids. He is a current member of the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission and owns and operates Peak Power Electric, a small family-run electrical construction business.
“I am committed to finding the sources of pollution, and implementing solutions to clean up our oceans and watershed,” Peak said. “The wide blanket approach of penalizing all of Malibu for dirty water must cease and we must involve our community in a practical solution.
“I grew up in the ocean and we must be mindful of this precious resource,” Peak added. “I will continue to be a proactive participant in the decisions that affect Malibu’s future. I am open-minded, a good listener and a proven leader.”
Hans Laetz has lived in Malibu for 15 years with his wife and three daughters. He has a law degree, but says he mostly wanted to teach journalism. He worked at CBS News, KCBS, KTLA and KABC television as an assignment editor and news operations manager for 25 years. Last fall he was the TV producer for the Conrad Murray trial at the L.A. Criminal Courts Building. He is currently the weekend news editor at City News Service in Los Angeles.
“Malibu must own up to its responsibility to its residents for public safety,” Laetz said. “We cannot allow unresponsive state and county agencies to continue to ignore our pressing public safety needs: make PCH safer, repair our water system and fix dangerous power poles.”
“We must ensure that the rural character of Malibu be reserved, as state law allows, and make sure it is our city that mediates between residents and outside agencies to protect private property rights, and do the job right,” Laetz added.
Andy Lyon has lived in Malibu his whole life and has been in real estate for almost 15 years. He has four children and said he is running because he wants to try and preserve the town that he grew up in.
“My top priorities are to stand up for Malibu,” Lyon said. “I want to stop the lagoon project and I want the city to reverse their stance on the sewer issue now that the USGS report is showing that it is bird fecal matter, not septic, polluting the lagoon. I am very concerned with the overdevelopment of central Malibu.
“I’m running for City Council for all those that are not happy with what is happening in Malibu,” Lyon added. “It is time to take back Malibu before it no longer resembles what makes Malibu special.”
House has lived in Malibu for 37 years. She has been married to her husband Ken for 47 years and has two children. She received her degree from San Diego State College, and a California teaching credential from California State University, Long Beach. She was also a teacher in the Peace C orps. She served on the Malibu City Council for 12 years from 1992-2004 and was mayor three times. She is currently a member of the Planning Commission.
“I consider it a duty to protect Malibu’s environment and its natural and cultural resources so that future generations can enjoy what my family has enjoyed for over 35 years,” House said.
“If elected,” House added, “I pledge to demand that large landowners consider the community’s needs, not just their balance sheets; to limit the ‘build-out’ in the Civic Center and Trancas areas; expand our recreational facilities to meet the needs of our adults and youth; create a citywide shuttle service which will reduce traffic and pollution; and implement a fire-safety program.”
Zeitsoff was born in Hollywood, Calif. She served on the first Malibu City Council, and was named State Assembly Woman of the Year for Assembly District 41 in 1995. She received her degree in English/Speech from UCLA and has a teaching credential.
She is currently teaching in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District and training at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution.
“I have unfinished business from when I last served the best little city in the world,” Zeitsoff said. “My saying ‘Keep Malibu Malibu’ is as true today as it was 20 years ago. We have serious threats to the Malibu way of life. The project for the lagoon, the Civic Center sewer project, the over-extended budget, the lack of constraints on land use, and the safety crisis on PCH are a few issues I will confront ASAP.”
John Sibert is the only incumbent running this year. He served as mayor pro tem from April 2010 through Jan. 2011 and as mayor from Jan. 24, 2011 to Nov. 14, 2011. He served on the planning commission for five years prior to being elected to the council in 2008. He is a former college professor who received his B.S. and M.S. in chemistry from the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology and his Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego.
“The City made great strides in the past four years including the creation of two new parks; the redesign of Cross Creek Road; and the dedication of a new City Hall which serves hundreds of our senior citizens, nonprofit groups and young artists,” Sibert said. “With the acquisition of over 7 million dollars in State and Federal funds to improve water quality in the Civic Center, our financial house is in order and we have many new environmental and cultural projects in the works, such as a new wastewater treatment facility in the Civic Center and a new state-of-the-art library.
“I pledge to run an issues-oriented campaign free of personal invective,” Sibert added. “And I ask you to give me the opportunity to serve you for one more term.”
The last day to register to vote is March 26. Elections will be held on April 10.